Wall Street Institute's Educational Advisory Board

Wall Street Institute has established an Educational Advisory Board (EAB) comprised of the company’s Director of Curriculum Development and distinguished scholars from the fields of Second Language Acquisition and Online Learning to advise and guide the company on key issues related to English language learning. The Mission of the EAB is to keep Wall Street Institute abreast of the latest research and techniques in second language acquisition to allow Wall Street Institute to continue to offer innovative teaching methods to our 160,000 enrolled students that are founded on sound academic principles.

Educational Advisory Board Members 

Michael Milanovic, Ph.D
Chief Executive Cambridge ESOL
Michael Milanovic became Chief Executive of Cambridge ESOL in May 2003.  He has been with Cambridge Assessment since 1989, first as the Head of the Evaluation Unit in EFL and later as Deputy Director EFL.  Michael is also the Manager of the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE), formed in 1989 and now consisting of over 30 member organizations representing nearly 30 European languages.  ALTE aims to establish common standards in language certification and collaborate on joint projects across Europe.

Michael got his Ph.D in Language Testing at the University of London in 1988.  He worked in Paris for 3 years as a Director of Studies before spending seven years in Hong Kong, with the British Council, the Hong Kong Examinations Authority and finally as a senior lecturer at the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong. He established the Cambridge University Press published series Studies in Language Testing in 1995 and is now co-editor.

Mike Long, Ph.D  
Professor of Second Language Acquisition and Director of the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures and at the University of Maryland, College Park
Mike Long teaches courses and seminars in the M.A. and Ph.D. programs in Second Language Acquisition. Mike is the author of over 100 articles and several books, and in 1991 was co-recipient of TESOL’s International Research Prize. He has served on the Editorial Boards of Studies in Second Language Acquisition, TESOL Quarterly, Language Teaching Research, JACET Bulletin, Porta Linguarium, Estudios de Linguistica Aplicada, and Revista Nebrija de Lingüística aplicada a la enseñanza de lenguas, and was co-editor of the Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series for its first 20 years. His current research includes work on theory change in Second Language Acquisition, negative feedback, sensitive periods, needs analysis, Task-Based Language Teaching, and a longitudinal study of stabilization /fossilization in the interlanguage of a Japanese immigrant to Hawaii. He is PI for the federally funded “Linguistic Correlates of Proficiency” study of the L2 acquisition of advanced levels of proficiency in less commonly taught languages by native speakers of English and heritage learners. Recent publications include the Handbook of SLA, co-edited with Catherine Doughty (Blackwell, 2003), Second Language Needs Analysis (Cambridge, 2005), Problems in SLA (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2007), and the Handbook of Second and Foreign Language Teaching, co-edited with Catherine Doughty (Blackwell, in press). He has been a plenary speaker at over 50 national and international conferences.

Carol A. Chapelle, Ph.D
Professor of TESL/applied linguistics at Iowa State University
Carol Chapelle is Co-Editor of the Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series. Her research explores issues at the intersection of computer technology and applied linguistics.  Her most recent books are Building a Validity Argument for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (Routledge, 2007) and Tips for Teaching with CALL (Pearson-Longman, 2008).  She is Past President of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (2006-2007) and former Editor of TESOL Quarterly (1999-2004).  Her papers have appeared in journals such as TESOL Quarterly, Language Learning, Language Testing, and Language Learning & Technology, as well as in Handbooks and Encyclopedias of Applied Linguistics.

Klaus Schwienhorst, Ph.D 
Director of Center for Languages for Special Purposes, Leibnitz University,  Hanover, Germany
Klaus Schwienhorst has been working since 2006 as the Director of the Center for Languages for Specific Purposes at Leibnitz University in Hanover, Germany, which has become one of the most active universities in Germany in the pursuit of internationalization. Prior to that, he worked as the Co-coordinator of extracurricular language modules and Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the Center for Language and Communication Studies at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, where he was involved in research projects covering areas such as virtual reality, computer-mediated communication, and learner autonomy. He has published widely in the areas of learner autonomy and synchronous text-based communication tools. His main research interests lie in computer-assisted language learning and learner autonomy for second language acquisition, and more recently in Council of Europe projects such as the European Language Portfolio and the Student Teacher Portfolio.

Joanne Dresner 
President, Pearson English Language Learning Solutions
Joanne Dresner was appointed to her role as President of English Language Learning Solutions, a new business focusing on teacher training and certification, customized curriculum, and assessment for English language learning customers worldwide, in 2008. She has a particular interest in second language acquisition pedagogy and materials development.

Joanne began her career in Pearson as an ELT editor in 1980 when Pearson Longman was just beginning to develop materials in American English. She became Editorial Director, and then President, Pearson Longman ELT (US) in 1996. She continued in that role until September 2008, and was also Chairman of Pearson’s education businesses in Latin America from 2003 to 2008. 

Prior to her career in publishing, Ms. Dresner was an ELT instructor and program administrator. She became a Longman author in 1979 with the publication of It’s Up to You: Language Skills and Strategies for Getting a Job.

Joanne holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Michigan.

Simon Buckland
Director of Curriculum Development, Wall Street Institute
Simon Buckland joined Wall Street Institute in 1980 as Academic Advisor and Director of Curriculum Development. Prior to joining WSI, he was a writer of teaching materials, working on English textbooks for Longmans. Since then, Mr. Buckland has been the chief author and instructional designer of the Wall Street English learning programs, during which time he has helped to guide the company through many phases of innovation, such as the first application of “Blended Learning” to English language learning; first use of a specially-programmed computer in English language learning; and the first full-scale English language course on CD-ROM. Before working on teaching materials, he worked as an English teacher and Director of Studies in the UK, the Middle East, and in Italy for the British Council. Throughout his career, he has also worked as an e-learning author and consultant in the UK for many well-known companies such as British Telecom, Bank of England, and Rolls-Royce, designing learning plans and programs for interactive management training programs. He has designed a number of e-learning projects and websites, and planned and supervised the publication and recording of teaching materials in many languages. Mr. Buckland received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Language and Literature from Oxford University, a Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from the British Council, and a Master of Science Degree from Sussex University (UK) in Intelligent Teaching Systems and Natural Language Processing.